1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to flat surface sweeping and cleaning machines in general and in particular to those of the vacuum or suction type where a vacuum condition just above the surface to be swept is created by rotary blower action.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is currently being manufactured by the Kato Equipment Company of Whittier, California, and sold at least in the Southern California area, a rotary suction type sidewalk or other flat surface sweeper called a VAC-MASTER. What this sweeper looks like is shown in the accompanying drawings and will be more fully described.
In addition, the following patents disclose various prior art sweeper-blower devices:
2,024,367 Eriksson-Jons 2,053,563 Kirby 2,099,377 Smellie 1,207,480 Blake 2,757,753 Kasper 3,184,777 Norden 1,289,809 Kern 3,016,559 Holtzclaw 2,983,057 Erickson 2,991,567 Erickson 2,896,246 Wildt
Also, somewhat related are certain rotary lawn mowers of the type disclosed in the following further patents:
Wolf No. 3,150,479 Brown No. 2,957,295 Duke No. 3,212,246
While the VAC-MASTER sweeper is effective in accomplishing the purpose for which it is designed, namely, to pick up grass, dirt and debris on a sidewalk or other flat area over which it may be operated, all such picked-up debris is blown out a rearwardly facing dicharge duct and hence must be caught in a sweeper bag attached over the discharge duct outlet; and in order to clean any surface, the sweeper must be run over it in such a way that the surface comes within the low pressure drawing power of the blower inlet means below the sweeper carriage body. In using such a sweeper, however, one will find both areas where, and occasions when it is not necessary or even possible for the sweeper to pick up debris, but it would suffice to blow the debris off a particular surface and into some repository, such as a gutter, flower bed or brush covered area. For this purpose prior to the present invention one would utilize a special blower device.
Also, while some rotary lawn mowers have been devised with lateral or rearwardly directed discharge ducts through which grass cuttings may be ejected, e.g., those of the Brown and Wolf patents; such mowers are generally not designed to operate as vacuum sweepers, but only to dicharge the grass cuttings as the motor blades create them through their cutting action and centrifugal force. In addition, the discharge ducts of these mowers, once set, are fixed until the mower is stopped and taken apart.
Although others have devised sweepers with air blowing capabilities (thus see, for example, the patents referred to above issued to Wildt, Norden, Erickson, Erickson-Jones, Kirby, Smellie, Blake and Kasper); none of these prior art devices is adaptable as a sidewalk sweeper-blower which may be hand-pushed on sidewalks, paths and other surfaces in or around houses and other domestic type buildings to accomplish cleaning of the same in a manner contemplated by and possible with the present invention.
As a practical matter, therefore, the best way of cleaning sidewalks and similar surfaces prior to the present invention has been to use a VAC-MASTER type sweeper and follow it up with a broom, nozzled water hose or separate blower device to sweep off those surfaces or areas into which the VAC-MASTER may not be conveniently maneuvered. This involves not only double effort on the part of the operator but the use of two separate devices, viz. the VAC-MASTER suction sweeper and, the broom, water hose or air blower.